Yongjie Ding

Particle-in-cell simulation of a double stage Hall thruster

The purpose of inventing a double stage Hall thruster is to control the propellant ionization and ion acceleration independently. In order to better understand the physics involved in such a thruster, an improved particle-in-cell method is used in this paper to simulate the discharge process. It is shown that the numerical features in the ionization stage accord well with the experimental results. It is also indicated that the ionization process and the acceleration process cannot be separated completely, as a relatively important ionization still occurs in the acceleration stage. Furthermore, an optimal threshold of ionization voltage in the ionization stage is existed to obtain the most favorable distributions of plasma parameters in the whole discharge channel.

Experimental study on the physical mechanism of coupling oscillation: a newly discovered oscillation in Hall thrusters

In order to study the physical mechanism of an oscillation newly discovered by the Harbin Institute of Technology Plasma Propulsion Lab (HPPL) in the range of hundreds of kHz to several MHz, Hall thrusters with different magnetic coils are studied by changing one of the following three parameters: discharge voltage, anode flow and coil current, directly measuring the coil current and measuring plasma oscillations related to coil current oscillation with the Langmuir probe. Experimental results indicated that in the discharge process of a Hall thruster the broadband turbulence of the Hall current causes an unstable spatial magnetic field and this field causes the magnetic circuit to resonate as an equivalent high level resistance?inductance?capacitance (RLC) network. As the response of the network, the oscillation of the coil current has a large oscillating component at the natural frequencies of the network. Also, the oscillation of coil current has an effect on the discharge process at the same time, so that they reach a self-consistent equilibrium state. As a result of such a coupling, both coil current and the discharge current exhibit their oscillating component at the natural frequencies of the magnetic circuit. It is therefore concluded that the newly discovered oscillation is caused by the coupling between the magnetic circuit and the discharge circuit.

Visual evidence of suppressing the ion and electron energy loss on the wall in Hall thrusters

A method of pushing down magnetic field with two permanent magnetic rings is proposed in this paper. It can realize ionization in a channel and acceleration outside the channel. The wall will only suffer from the bombardment of low-energy ions and electrons, which can effectively reduce channel erosion and extend the operational lifetime of thrusters. Furthermore, there is no additional power consumption of coils, which improves the efficiency of systems. We show here the newly developed 200 W no wall-loss Hall thruster (NWLHT-200) that applies the method of pushing down magnetic field with two permanent magnetic rings; the visual evidence we obtained preliminarily confirms the feasibility that the proposed method can realize discharge without wall energy loss or erosion of Hall thrusters.

Effect of oblique channel on discharge characteristics of 200-W Hall thruster

In an experiment involving a 200-W Hall thruster, partial ionization occurs in the plume area because of the extrapolation of the magnetic field. To improve the thruster performance, the concept of an oblique channel is proposed for improving the ionization degree in the plume area. Calculations performed using a Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulator and the experimental results both show that an oblique channel structure can reduce the wall loss. Compared with a straight channel under similar conditions of the discharge voltage and current, the ionization degree in the plume area, thrust, specific impulse, propellant utilization, and anode efficiency are improved by ∼20%. The oblique channel is an important design consideration for improving the partial ionization of the plume area in the thruster.

Experimental test of 200 W Hall thruster with titanium wall

We designed a 200 W Hall thruster based on the technology of pushing down a magnetic field with two permanent magnetic rings. Boron nitride (BN) is an important insulating wall material for Hall thrusters. The discharge characteristics of the designed Hall thruster were studied by replacing BN with titanium (Ti). Experimental results show that the designed Hall thruster can discharge stably for a long time under a Ti channel. Experiments were performed to determine whether the channel and cathode are electrically connected. When the channel wall and cathode are insulated, the divergence angle of the plume increases, but the performance of the Hall thruster is improved in terms of thrust, specific impulse, anode efficiency, and thrust-to-power ratio. Ti exhibits a powerful antisputtering capability, a low emanation rate of gas, and a large structural strength, making it a potential candidate wall material in the design of low-power Hall thrusters.

Unstable Discharge Phenomenon and Stabilization of Hall Thruster Operating in Self-Excited Mode

An unstable discharge phenomenon is observed in a 1 kWHall thruster operating with the electromagnets driven in series by the discharge current. Thedischarge current jumpsbetween two current levels. Performance ismeasured at discharge currents of 3.9 and 4.7 A. Measurements indicate the performance at 4.7 A is found to be lower. The instability corresponds to operation of theHall thruster over anarrow range of the anodemassflowrate.Outside that range, the current is stable at other values and remains almost linearly proportional to themass flow rate over awide range. To better understand this unstable discharge phenomenon, the stability of the thruster at operating points where the magnetoampere characteristic curve intersects the magnetic field coil current curve are analyzed. A proposed method for stabilizing the discharge current is then validated through experiments.

Stabilizing low-frequency oscillation with two-stage filter in Hall thrusters

The use of a filter is the most common method to suppress low-frequency discharge current oscillation in Hall thrusters. The only form of filter in actual use involves RLC networks, which serve the purpose of reducing the level of conducted electromagnetic interference returning to the power processing unit, which is the function of a filter. Recently, the role of the filter in the oscillation control was introduced. It has been noted that the filter regulates the voltage across itself according to the variation of discharge current so as to decrease its fluctuation in the discharge circuit, which is the function of a controller. Therefore, a kind of two-stage filter is proposed to fulfill these two purposes, filtering and controlling, and the detailed design methods are discussed and verified. A current oscillation attenuation ratio of 10 was achieved by different capacitance and inductance combinations of the filter stage, and the standard deviation of low-frequency oscillations decreased from 3 A-1 A by the control stage in our experiment.

Effect of vortex inlet mode on low-power cylindrical Hall thruster

This paper examines a new propellant inlet mode for a low-power cylindrical Hall thruster called the vortex inlet mode. This new mode makes propellant gas diffuse in the form of a circumferential vortex in the discharge channel of the thruster. Simulation and experimental results show that the neutral gas density in the discharge channel increases upon the application of the vortex inlet mode, effectively extending the dwell time of the propellant gas in the channel. According to the experimental results, the vortex inlet increases the propellant utilization of the thruster by 3.12%–8.81%, thrust by 1.1%–53.5%, specific impulse by 1.1%–53.5%, thrust-to-power ratio by 10%–63%, and anode efficiency by 1.6%–7.3%, greatly improving the thruster performance.

On matching the anode ring with the magnetic field in an ATON-type Hall effect thruster

In an ATON-type Hall effect thruster, a ring-shaped anode and a cusped magnetic field intersect the match between the anode shape and the field topology thus must be clarified to optimize the electron transport to the anode and consequently the design of a high-efficiency thruster. By changing the match pattern with both the change in the length of the anode ring and the axial displacement of the cusp magnetic field, this study experimentally investigated the influence of the match pattern on the discharge characteristics of an ATON-type thruster—P100—under the condition of a moderate discharge voltage. The experimental results show that there is a match pattern that always optimizes the performance of the P100 thruster. At the rated operation parameters (300 V of discharge voltage and 5 mg/s of propellant mass flow rate) and the rated magnetic field strength, the observed improvements on thrust (∼79 mN to ∼85 mN) and anode efficiency (∼46% to ∼55%) are significant. Through further theoretical analysis, this study revealed that the change in the characteristics of electron momentum and energy transfer in the near-anode region, induced by the change of the match pattern, is the basic reason. The findings of this work are instructive for both understanding the electron motion in a cusp magnetic field and guiding the design of the anode ring intersecting with a cusp magnetic field in an ATON-type Hall effect thruster.

Numerical study of influence of hydrogen backflow on krypton Hall effect thruster plasma focusing

The influence of backflow hydrogen on plasma plume focusing of a krypton Hall effect thruster is studied via a numerical simulation method. Theoretical analysis indicates that hydrogen participates in the plasma discharge process, changes the potential and ionization distribution in the thruster discharge cavity, and finally affects the plume focusing within a vacuum vessel.